Today is Tuesday, June 21, 2022, the first day of summer and the fourth public hearing of the January 6 select committee investigating the horrific siege on the Capitol. There was definitely “heat” inside the House chamber today with the emotional and compelling testimony given by all of the witnesses. The hearing today yielded more incriminating evidence of corruption involving the former president and his coconspirators who tried to pressure state officials to help Dumpf overturn the 2020 presidential election. All I could think of after hearing such harrowing testimony that was given by these individuals as they fought against doing the wrong thing by going along with this nefarious plot cooked up by the Don in the White House and his corrupt allies was that this was a “profiles in courage” moment for this country. These innocent officials were harassed and hounded by Dumpf and his henchmen after they refused to go along with the plan to overturn the election. They showed real courage in light of this relentless pressure to subvert the Constitution and they should be applauded by all Americans for their commitment to their duty.

The first person to offer such disturbing testimony was Arizona House of Representatives Speaker Rusty Bowers who mentioned the unrelenting harassment that he received at the hands of the Dumpf camp; he was portrayed as a pedophile and sexual pervert by those duped Americans who believed the lies of Donald Dumpf. Bowers’ testimony was extremely powerful and very moving, as he detailed the threats posed to loved ones, even with the reality of having a “gravely ill” daughter who was disturbed by the raucous protesters outside the family home.

Like previous hearings, these officials which included Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, his deputy Gabe Sterling, and the aforementioned Rusty Bowers of Arizona all testified how they were unwilling to participate in legally dubious schemes that would undermine the election, including efforts to subvert the Electoral College with fake pro-Dumpf electors. An online CNN article by Marshall Cohen, Jeremy Herb, and Zachary Cohen appears today entitled “7 takeaways from the fourth day of the January 6 hearings.”

One of those takeaways from today’s hearing is that these Republican witnesses have tied Dumpf directly to the fake elector effort to overturn the election. “Multiple witnesses told the committee that Trump was personally involved in the effort to put forward slates of fake electors in key battleground states – a key part of the broader effort to overturn Biden’s legitimate election victory.”

Another takeaway from today’s hearing is that congressional Republicans helped Dumpf’s efforts in overturning the election. One of those repugnicans was Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona who called Rusty Bowers, the first witness to testify, on the morning of January 6, 2021, asking him to support decertification of his state’s electors for Biden. Bowers testified on Tuesday, “I said I would not” when asked to do something legally dubious.

The second call occurred several hours later, just minutes before then-Vice President Mike Pence gaveled in the joint session of Congress to certify the electoral votes. “According to text messages obtained by the committee, an aide to GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin asked an aide to Pence how Johnson could hand-deliver him the fake slates of Trump electors from Michigan and Wisconsin, which had not been sent to the National Archives.” The response given to Johnson’s aide by Pence’s aide was that Johnson should “not give that to him.”

So far, five House GOP members, including Biggs and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have been subpoenaed by the committee. These cowards have not complied with the summonses so far and have denounced the panel’s investigation.

A third chilling takeaway from the hearing is that Dumpf’s lies had serious consequences on these witnesses’ lives, which included threats and verbal harassment.

The first witness, Bowers, delivered emotional testimony about “disturbing” protests outside his home. The principled House Speaker of Arizona began to well up as he discussed the impact protests at his house had on his wife and daughter, who was at home gravely ill at the time and was “upset by what was happening outside.” I later learned that his daughter died on January 28, 2021. Bowers then went on to read passages from his personal journal about friends who had turned on him.

The Georgia Secretary of State described the attacks that his wife faced after the election, which he said he suspected was an attempt to pressure him to quit. The odious ex-president supported a repugnican primary challenger to Raffensperger, GOP Rep. Jody Hice, who was a toady of the insurrectionist, as part of his evil campaign to oust the few repugnicans who opposed his lies about the election. But Raffensperger won his primary in May, dealing a crushing blow to the former liar-in-chief.

Another major takeaway from the hearing today was that only Republican officials took the lead in testifying against the former president. This could be construed as a brilliant strategy used by the Democrat-run committee that has called only conservative, bedrock Republicans thus far who have all offered damning testimony against Dumpf. So no one can accuse the committee of engaging in partisanship in their overwhelming incriminating case against a rogue president.

The last testimony offered by Wandrea “Shaye” Moss was extremely chilling, in my opinion, as Moss hesitatingly provided the committee and the nation disturbing accounts of how both she and her mom, Ruby Freeman, were singled out by Dumpf and his bulldog Rudy Giuliani during the 2020 election. The unhinged Dumpf and his consigliere spread disgusting lies concerning these election workers in Georgia who spoke about how their lives were literally destroyed by the president’s campaign of terror.

In the wake of this campaign of terror against her and her mother, Moss admitted being “helpless,” as she gained 60 pounds in the interim, and stopped giving out her business card because “I don’t want anyone knowing my name.” Ms. Freeman has said that she gets “nervous when I have to give food orders” because someone who believes Dumpf’s lies might recognize her name. She said she felt “homeless” while she lived in hiding for two months, after the FBI told her she wasn’t safe at home. In a videotaped deposition, Freeman said, “I have lost my sense of security, all because of a group of people, starting with (Trump) and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me, and my daughter, Shaye, to push lies about how the election was stolen.”

Today’s most powerful hearing focused on personal testimony from witnesses whose lives were upended by the lies of Dumpf and his allies and really showed the human toll of his unrelenting campaign of disinformation. Americans should be hearing this and coming to the conclusion that this ex-“president” should now be targeted by Attorney General Merrick Garland for definite prosecution. There is no other option anymore!

In a closing statement, Rep. Liz Cheney lambasted all of those ugly repugnicans like Mark Meadows, Mike Flynn, Steve Bannon, et al. who have yet to comply with the committee’s warrants for them to testify. Cheney reserved her best icy rebuke for White House counsel Pat Cipollone for also not agreeing to testify before the committee. Let the American people know these individuals’ names so they can be reviled for their continued disservice to the country.

More hearings are scheduled for Thursday at 8, I believe.

Stay safe and be well.